Former shadow chancellor Ed Balls has found his reason to go on learning the Salsa despite Donald Trump winning the US presidential election: Strictly Come Dancing is exactly what we need right now.

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Appearing on The Last Leg on Wednesday night, Balls reflected on the victory of the right-wing former Apprentice star and millionaire businessman: “I did feel this morning, you know – the nation wakes up, kids are going to school worrying about what’s happening. And I’m going to spend eight hours doing the Salsa.

“I did think to myself, ‘Is today the day to be dancing?’

However, the former Labour MP thinks Strictly is the perfect tool to heal political rifts – after all, his campaign to lift the Glitterball trophy has serious cross-party support.

“To be serious, there’s been a campaign where there’s lots of hate on either side,” he said. “People fear each other. Democrats fear what the Republicans can do. We saw the same thing with Brexit.

“But there’s things in our cultures which unite people. I’m supported on Strictly Come Dancing by Gordon Brown, Ed Miliband, Theresa May and George Osborne. That is one hell of a coalition of support!”

He added: “It’s important we find things in our lives which bring us together and bind us, which we enjoy together and from that you then try and do something more serious and positive.

“In the end, it’s quite a good thing we enjoy Saturday nights and get on and don’t see each other as enemies just because we’re Labour or Conservative or Democrat or Republican. We’ve got to find something to bring us together.”

Saturday can’t come soon enough.

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Strictly Come Dancing continues on Saturday on BBC1 at 6.55pm. The Last Leg is back on Friday night on Channel 4 at 10pm